“Mama!” Damian smiled as he ran forward to hug his mother, despite the fact that half of his extended family, and all his friends were watching him. Either he simply didn’t care what they thought, or he was so caught up in the moment, that he had forgotten they were there.

“Damian!” Talia beamed as she embraced her son. The pair were so happy to see each other that they were lost in their own world, speaking to each other rapidly in Arabic.

A path cleared in the crowd as Batman and Selina made their way to the front. Only then did Talia break her attention away from her son. “Hello to you too, my dear ones!” She pulled them both into her and kissed them both, making Damian mumble and look away. He was more embarrassed by his parents being affectionate in public with each other than he was his mother showing any kind of affection with him.

Lara smiled at her best friend, happy for him. Damian’s mother, Talia Al Ghul led a very complicated life, and rarely got time to see her son, or her lovers. Rumor had it that she had paid Bruce and Selina a surprise visit on their around the world honeymoon, but Lara didn’t know when the last time Damian had gotten to spend time with her. 

“I’m sorry to just drop in like this!” Talia raised her voice to call a general apology to the room after more whispered words to her two great loves. “Especially since I seem to be interrupting a party.” She added, noticing the decorations. She spotted Lara, “Happy birthday Supergirl! I’m sorry for gatecrashing like this. I thought your birthday was tomorrow.” 

Lara wasn’t too surprised that Talia knew when her birthday was, or that she had no reaction to seeing Supergirl and not…her old self, having the party. She kinda figured being an undercover agent in the League of Shadows probably required having a pretty good memory and staying up to date on current events. 

“It is, but I’m having two parties. Nice to see you again Mrs. Al Ghul!” She couldn’t help but sound a bit awkward addressing Damian’s mom. She had known Bruce her whole life, but had only met Talia a handful of times.

Talia smiled and looked around the cave, taking in the various details as well as the various guests. A few of the heroes still looked a little wary of the new arrival, but the majority of the crowd had gone back to mingling, in order to give her some privacy. 

“Quite an impressive turnout, I see.” Talia nodded approvingly. “I take it Damian played a large part in the organization? He’s always had his Baba’s ability to draw large crowds when needed, as well as our shared flair for the dramatic.”

“Yep! He’s done a great job!” Lara looked about the cave, happy to take in the decorations once again. It was only then that she noticed Colin had disappeared from the group. “What the…”

“Oh no.” Damian sighed, stepping forward, “Mama, there’s someone I would like for you to meet officially, but I think you might have scared him off.”

“Him? Oh! Do I get to meet this Colin I’ve heard so much about in your letters? He wouldn’t happen to be that cute red-haired boy that was here a moment ago?” Talia asked, holding up a hand to approximate Colin’s height.

“That’s him.” Damian and Lara said together.

Talia pointed into the cave in the direction of Damian’s “petting zoo.” “I saw him run off that way about a minute ago.”

Lara flew off ahead of the mother and son, looking for her friend in the crowd and serving as a guide to lead the way. He was easy to spot...

Colin had attempted to hide in plain sight by turning back into Goliath and pretending to sleep in his old nesting area. The Dragon-Bat looked up at Lara and gave a brief grunt of acknowledgement. Lara grinned and waved over to Damian and his mother. “I found him!” She called.

“Habibi, you’re not fooling anyone with that. Get out here.” Damian called as he approached, trying to sound soothing and gentle, while also struggling not to laugh.

The dragon growled something half heartedly, before he began shifting back to human form. As he shifted, Colin stood up and turned to face Talia. “Hello Mrs. Al Ghul, nice to finally meet you.” Colin said in a deep gravelly voice when he was mostly human, but he had stopped the transformation half way, leaving himself a lot taller, more muscular, with a scruffy red beard and body-hair... and a tail… and wings.

“Habibi,” Damian said again, putting a comforting hand on his boyfriend’s forearm.

“Fine…” Colin grumbled again, reverting back to his 100% human form, smiling sheepishly up at Talia from his lower vantage point. “Hi… I’m Colin.” Colin said with an awkward grin.

Lara hadn’t seen Colin act this nervous before, though she could understand why. To say that Damian’s mother had an intimidating reputation would be the understatement of the year, given her association with the League of Shadows and a mysterious, morally-dubious past. Despite all of this, however, Talia was smiling warmly at her son’s boyfriend.

“It is a pleasure to finally meet you, young man! Damian has said so many wonderful things about you.” Talia extended her hand and Colin shook it happily. “The control you showed of that power of yours is very impressive too, Colin! I’m so glad that my son has such a strong young man to rely on!”

“Mama…” groaned Damian, blushing at Talia’s remark, as Colin grinned and put an arm around his boyfriend’s shoulder.

“Well, Damian…” Colin grinned. “When do I get to meet this “strong young man” that your mom is talking about? He sounds great!”

The nearby guests all chuckled at Colin’s joke, and Lara stood back a bit, letting them have some privacy. She smiled at Colin, who was standing tall with a combination of euphoria, pride and a little bit of relief on his face. He had apparently been dreading this meeting at first, but seemed pleasantly surprised by how well it was going.

Lara saw Maya and Kathy off to the side and joined them, “This is much cuter than I thought it was going to be.” She remarked, nodding over towards Colin and Talia, who were now engaged in polite conversation.

“I know right?” Kathy replied, “You’d think if any parent was going to give a “be nice to my son or else” speech, it would be freakin’ Talia Al Ghul!”

Maya smirked, “Maybe you haven’t heard the same things about her that I have, mon chaton. Besides, from what Damian has told me, Colin’s already gotten that talk from both Dick and Bruce. Talia probably felt Colin deserved a friendlier first meeting.” She smirked as a thought crossed her mind. “Besides, I can only imagine the chaos that would ensue if Talia threatened the son of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy.”

Lara smiled, both from the imagery that her friend had given her, and the fact that Maya had just called Kathy “mon chaton.” Lara had been brushing up on her French since her visit to Paris in the spring, and if she remembered correctly, those words meant “my kitten”, which was absolutely precious. “So, are you two planning to stick around in America for a while?”

Kathy gave a bit of a shrug, her cheeks having turned a shade of darker green to be addressed this way by her girlfriend. “Not very long. We might pop over to Metropolis or even Smallville for a day or two, but we have a mission in Belgium to look into soon.”

Lara was about to ask what the mission was when she noticed several of the adult heros clustered around the Bat-Computer, which was alive with activity. Something was clearly up…

“What do you think they’re looking at?” Lara pondered. She remembered her dad saying that they had JLA members covering everyone at the party, so any situation that had this much attention had to be serious.

Jason came over to Selina, Bruce and Talia, close enough for the young heroes to hear him. “Bruce, there’s a situation at S.T.A.R. Labs.” 

Talia said something in Arabic under her breath. Her tone made it easy for the girls to guess that she was cursing. “S.T.A.R. Labs?” She continued in English. “I was just there. I snuck in and hacked one of their teleporters to get here.”

“You did what?!” Bruce asked, incredulously, as he followed his wives over to the main console. 

“It was the closest teleporter I knew about! Never mind that now!” Talia said, waving a hand. “Well Jason, who did my father send to collect me this time?”

“From all reports, it looks like Bane. We think he’s alone. Smashed his way in and started demanding access to the teleporters. Probably trying to follow you.” 

“Bane?” Talia asked in mild confusion, “He’s not in my father’s pocket.”

“Ra’s must have put a bounty on your return. Much more in that ogre’s wheelhouse.” Selina commented.

Bane? That wasn’t good news. Lara had heard enough stories about that particular supervillain to know that any situation where he was involved should be treated with extreme caution. 

The first time Bane had ever appeared on any of the heroes’ radars, he had broken Batman’s back, and put the Dark Knight out of commission for almost a year! Lara wasn’t old enough to remember the incident too well, but it was still a very sensitive topic for the Wayne family.

Most of the guests had now turned their attention to the screen of the Bat-Computer, which was now displaying a news report of the situation at S.T.A.R. Labs. Wally and Artemis were taking particular interest in the incident as they both worked for S.T.A.R. when in civilian mode.

“The surrounding area is being evacuated by the heroes in the area,” Oracle commented, easily stepping into her role as mission control, “But the Labs have been locked down. They could use some help getting any trapped civilians out and anyone injured to medical treatment. Then of course, we also need someone to take out Bane before he brings down the whole building.”

Bruce turned his attention to Superman, “What do you think Clark? Can you take him do-“

“I can do it!”

All the adults turned at once to see who had volunteered. Lara had flown over to join the discussion. “I can do it!” Lara said again. “I’m strong enough and fast enough to match him! Please let me help!” She was trying to contain her excitement, but it was hard. She was sure that this was the chance she had wished for! It was too perfect to be a coincidence!

Clark was proud of her confidence, but still hesitant. “Lara, I’m not sure. He’s a big threat to take on yourself.”

“Then don’t send her in by herself!” Kathy and Maya had come forward, each putting a hand on Lara’s shoulders. “Kathy and I can get her in, and provide backup.”

“Well…” Clark was still hesitant but then Wally joined the conversation.

“It’s not a bad plan. And they won’t be alone.” The Flash was already taking out one of the rings he kept his super suit inside. “Babs, can you bring up the security cameras in the Labs?”

It took seconds for Oracle to bring up the camera feeds to her monitors. “There’s at least 20 employees still inside. I know them and the layout so I’ll be on scene to help at least.” Wally continued.

“Dad!” Lara pointed at one of the screens showing Bane himself walking his hulking form past a very familiar section of the facility. “He’s in Dr. October’s lab! Please, you gotta let me help her!”

Clark exchanged a look with Bruce before responding, “Ok. You kids can take point in this. But we’ll be in reserve if things get out of hand, alright?.”

Lara beamed at her dad, flying up to hug him in thanks before turning to the two older girls. “Right! Let’s move out!”

She paused when she heard her dad clear his throat behind her. “Hang on a second, sweetie! You might want to put your uniform back on first...”

Lara stared down, realizing she was still wearing her dress and hoodie combo. “Oh… right. Get changed, then move out!” She called out, trying her best to sound as confident as the first time.

________________________________________________________________

It was turning out to be a very exciting day for Dr. Victoria October. Her work day plans had been very quiet and ordinary, the usual tests, the usual samples, the usual notes. Feeling bored, she had considered calling out early for the day, to give her more time to prepare for date night. Luck would have it though, that was when things started to get interesting!

To start with, on her return to the lab from a coffee break, she caught sight of Talia Al Ghul on her security feed! She knew exactly why Talia was there and did her best to pretend she didn’t see the assassin hacking into the personal teleporter in her office.

It was cute that Talia thought she could sneak into the scientist’s lab without her noticing, but Victoria let her be. Actively confronting her would mean a lot of paperwork, and it wasn’t worth the trouble. She was soon gone in a flash, as quickly as she came.

Something less cute, but more exciting came about 20 minutes later, when an alarm blared through the building. There was another intruder, and this one had been less subtle than the beautiful woman. Victoria heard a loud roar and the entire building shook. Someone much, much less subtle…

Her lab’s security doors were smashed in, as ineffectual as a screen door at keeping this threat out. Standing over 7 feet tall and decked out in black leather armour, with a hose pumping a powerful chemical into the base of his spine, was an instantly recognisable figure. Bane!

Victoria heard the sounds of the floors below her being evacuated, but surmised that there were still dozens of trapped individuals within the facility. Bane was clever, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that his target’s best way out of the building was via the teleporter in Victoria’s office. The mercenary’s intentions were clear...

Victoria took a deep breath, and greeted the newcomer. “Mister Bane, isn’t it?” She asked, sounding, not just unafraid, but a little excited to see him, “I don’t know if you remember me, but I used to be one of the doctors with the A.R.G.U.S. agency. I’m Dr. Victoria October, she/her. What can I do for you today?” As she spoke, she discreetly tapped a few buttons on one of the consoles...

The giant brute wasn’t used to the people he dealt with being so calm. He nodded as he approached the doctor’s desk menacingly. “Si! I remember you! You got away from la bruja Waller too, eh?” He actually smiled a bit behind his mask, not having expected to see a familiar face on this job. 

He quickly returned his focus to the task at hand. No matter how friendly the doctor was, he needed to finish this job before any heroes turned up. He was aware that the moment the alarm had gone off that the Bat and his friends would know he was here. He wasn’t going back to Belle Reve Prison! “I’m looking for a particular woman.” He said, getting back on topic.

“I’m assuming you don’t mean me?” Victoria asked playfully.

“Don’t play dumb!” Bane screamed out, smashing her desk in half with a single punch, “You know who I speak of!” That was a bigger reaction than he had intended. He clenched his fists so she wouldn’t notice his hand quivering. He had used too much Venom rushing in here. It was already a struggle to keep his thoughts clear with so much of the drug in his system. He slowed his breathing to focus his mind before speaking again, “Where is Al Ghul?”

Victoria didn’t seem to be listening. Instead, she was staring at the wreckage with professional interest. “That is impressive! How many milliliters of Venom do you need in your system to get these kinds of results?” Even working at A.R.G.U.S., she hadn’t had the opportunity to study the drug in much detail.

Not in the mood for jokes, or shop talk, Bane decided it was time for more aggressive interrogation. He grabbed the doctor by her neck, and lifted her out of her seat with one hand. “Tell me or I squeeze!”

Victoria coughed and gasped as the wind was knocked out of her. “Squeeze, and your trail goes cold!” The pair glared at each other for a long moment before Bane reluctantly lowered Victoria to the floor, conceding her point. 

“Thank you.” said Victoria, rubbing her sore neck. “That’s much better. Your target took the teleporter a half hour ago.” She said, walking the hulking intruder over to the teleportation console.

“Bueno! Send me to her!” He cracked his knuckles and walked towards the machine. Maybe the job would be over soon and he could dial back his dosage a bit. His hair-trigger temper when he juiced for too long was frightening at times.

“It’s not as simple as that, I’m afraid.” Victoria knew her friends in the Justice League had to be aware of the situation by now, and she prayed they were watching and listening. “I can’t send you to her, because you aren’t in the system. It wouldn’t transport you without an override, which I don’t have.” She glanced briefly up at a nearby security camera, “If miss Al Ghul were to step back into the pod, I could allow her access to this one. But I don’t think anyone would willingly teleport to us if you’re here..”

She shifted her gaze back towards Bane, just in time for him to turn and glare at her. She would have to be careful and hope that the heroes were listening and had picked up her hidden message. She couldn’t risk dropping any more hints around Bane. Despite his brutish appearance, Bane was known for his remarkable intelligence and deduction skills. He probably already suspected her for even the subtlest implication.

There was a sudden whirring sound as the teleporter came to life. Victoria smiled to herself, realising that someone had gotten her message. “Ah, speak of the devil…” She smiled up at her captor. “It looks like someone is attempting to teleport in. Maybe it’s the woman you’re after? Shall I bring her in?”

Victoria was able to pass off her smug smile as a nervous grin in the face of danger. She had been sure to mute the device’s speaker system at the first sign of trouble, so that if anyone did come to her rescue, their identity would not be blurted out by the computer. This would be helpful if she had any chance of deceiving her captor.

Bane grinned wickedly. He could tell what this woman was trying to do. She obviously planned to use this device to bring in some backup, in the form of one of her hero friends. He had been careful to analyse the amount of hero activity in Metropolis on his way to the facility, and it had been a relatively quiet day, despite usual crime rates. He had deduced that the heroes must have been occupied with something else, otherwise he would have, at the very least, encountered the new Superbrat by this point.

He glared at the teleporter. There was a high chance that this was a trap, and that when the device was activated, he would come face to face with the Justice League's biggest guns....

Well, they were welcome to try. After all, he was interested to see what would happen. He had made it this far without any trouble. If the JLA couldn’t spare Superman from defending Metropolis, then maybe all they could spare to rescue the dear doctor was Hawkman. Bane grinned at the thought of tearing that fool’s wings to shreds.

“Very well then, Dr. October!” Bane stood back, positioning himself behind Victoria, his large hand once again against her neck, “Just a little insurance. In case your friends try anything…” 

The teleporter groaned to life and sparked with power to reveal… absolutely no one standing on the pad. “Qué? What the hell was that?”

Victoria smiled and let herself relax as his hand came away. Knowing she only had moments, she started improvising, “Coded message. They are willing to talk.” She motioned for the large man to come over to the computer and turn his back on the device.

It was almost too easy. With the help of Maya’s stealth suit, recently upgraded to camouflage not just herself, but anyone who touched her, Supergirl, Nobody and Beacon had managed to teleport right in front of their target. Lara had held Maya’s hand, but Kathy had insisted on riding piggyback, which she apparently did all the time. 

With Bane’s back turned, the party made their way quietly across the room. Once in position, they disengaged the cloak as quietly as they could. The Flash had set off before them on foot to rescue any other trapped civilians, while Kathy and Maya would get Victoria clear. That would leave Lara to take down the main threat. Lara gave the thumbs up, and mouthed “Time to get to work.”

Kathy returned the gesture, before her and Maya turned invisible again, and started to make their way around the edge of the room. Once Bane was distracted, they would grab the doctor and move her to safety. All that remained was for Lara to get Bane’s attention.

Supergirl took a deep breath, as she dropped into her serious hero mode. It was finally her time. “Get away from her, Bane!” She called from across the room.

Unsure if he had heard right, the large man turned and stared at the preteen staring up at him. “Supergirl? Of all the people to reach me first.” Bane laughed, but was sure not to let his finger off the trigger for his injector. Kryptonians were a formidable threat, even the young ones. “Fly home, niña! I don’t like to fight kids, but I will if you don’t get lost.”

Lara huffed. Why did people keep saying things like that to her? Okay, this was a man who could break a truck over his knee and not just a thug with a crowbar, but it was still annoying! She clenched her fists as she floated into the air. “Don’t underestimate me! I’m still Supergirl!”

“No doubt. But you are still alone.” Bane grinned, still feeling very much in control of the situation. “Doctor? I think you and I might need to leave to continue our little talk elsewhere.” He reached out a hand to grab his hostage, but found himself grasping at air. 

“Qué? Where’d you-” Bane cursed loudly, as he heard the sound of a window opening behind him. He spun around and charged in the direction of the noise, but was suddenly intercepted...

Flying quickly through the air, Lara approached him from underneath and shoved herself as hard as she could into Bane’s chest, knocking him back across the lab. There was a deafening crash, and Lara suddenly found herself staring at a large vaguely Bane-shaped hole in the wall at the far end of the lab. 

“Whoa…” Lara muttered to herself. She was discovering more about her super-strength everyday. It was a good thing that Bane had superhuman endurance, and had recovered from worse blows in the past, or else things could have gotten very messy.

“Nice one, Supergirl!” Damian said in her ear piece, watching and coordinating the whole thing from the Batcomputer. “October, Beacon and Nobody are clear of the room, and Flash is half done. But don’t get cocky, that hit won’t stun Bane for long.”

Suddenly, an alarm started ringing and the sprinklers in the ceiling came to life, dousing the entire lab and it’s occupants with water. Smashing Bane through the wall must’ve created enough smoke and dust to activate the lab’s fire-suppression system. “Ah heck!” said Lara as she was drenched by the sprinklers. This hadn’t been part of the plan.

Lara could hear Bane shuffling on the other side of the wall, confirming that the fight was by no means over. She quickly flew over to the window to check on how Maya, Kathy and the Doctor were doing, and Lara was relieved to see the three of them floating gently down to the street below, carried by Kathy’s telekinesis.

“Here he comes again!” Came Robin’s voice in Lara’s earpiece. Lara turned to see Bane slowly emerging from the hole in the wall. “Remember, he’s top heavy. If you go for the legs you could unbalance him!”

“Not bad, niña!” Bane groaned, shaking himself off. “Not as strong as your papa, but good for your size...” He cracked his knuckles and turned up the dial on the back of his hand. “Now it’s my turn!” Bane screamed as power surged through him. “I WILL END THIS QUICKLY!!”

Lara could almost see the Venom flooding Bane’s body, the veins in his arms and neck swelling and the towering brute’s eyes practically glowing a bright green. Bane moved across the room with alarming speed, catching Lara off-guard. She flew quickly to the right, hoping that her superspeed would save her. Unfortunately, it seemed as though Bane had been counting on Lara to do exactly that…

With incredible reflexes for a man his size, Bane quickly threw out a hand and grasped onto the end of Lara’s cape! The young girl cried as she was pulled back by one hand and punched hard in the chest with the other. She gasped and wheezed as the wind was knocked out of her, and she fell to the floor. 

While the physical pain was fairly mild thanks to her Kryptonian endurance, the fear that Lara felt in that moment was very real indeed. Bane loomed over her, water from the sprinklers raining down over him, as he prepared to deliver another blow. Lara threw up her arms in defense… but the impact never came.

“What?!” Bane’s voice called out in confused anger. Looking up, Lara saw the villain’s upper-arm had been encased in ice! 

Freeze breath! Lara had discovered her freeze breath! When Bane had winded her, she must have let out a full mini-blizzard onto the mercenaries exposed limb!

Taking advantage of the confusion, Lara tried to replicate the feeling of the new power. She rose to her feet, focused her breath and exhaled, trying to pass it off as catching her breath. The first attempt she felt nothing. The second, she could feel the chill in the back of her throat. By now Bane had given up on freeing his frozen appendage, and was getting ready to charge. Knowing she only had seconds till the next strike, Lara let out one final breath...

She remembered Damian’s advice about destabilizing his legs, so Lara blew out onto the floor between her and her opponent. She was delighted to see a wide sheet of ice spread out over the wet floor! 

As Bane stepped forward, his feet slid out from under him. Lara flew out of his path as Bane hurtled past, completely out of control, and crashed onto the floor, the impact shaking the building.

“Now! Go for the tube!” Damian called through Lara’s earpiece. With Bane’s weak spot exposed, Lara quickly flew over and yanked the Venom pipe out of the tank on the brute’s back. With a loud pop, the fluid began flowing freely onto the floor around the stunned mercenary, dissipating through the water until it was almost gone.

“Hey Robin, does Venom freeze?” Lara asked, an idea forming in her head.

“No!” Bane called from the ground, trying to quickly pull himself up. His reaction was all Lara needed for an answer. Now that she had figured out the trick of her ice breath, it came easier to her than the last time. In a single blast of cold air, helped by the water and volatile chemicals soaking the room, Lara encased Bane’s entire body in ice from the neck down.

She watched him struggle and scream in the unusual confines, but without his precious chemical, he only made a little progress. “I did it…” she panted under her breath, feeling suddenly very tired from the force of her exertions. “Dad, I did it!” She leaned against a wall, feeling a bit dizzy.

“You’re worn out, niña!” Bane called from his icy confines, doubling his efforts to escape. “What would you do if I got out now, little hero?”

Supergirl smiled as the teleporter came to life across the room. She could already guess who was coming through.

Lara chuckled, “I’d tag out to one of them.” Her smile widened as she saw her father step off the teleporter platform, accompanied by Batman, Robin and Talia. 

Bane growled but stopped moving, knowing he had no chance against all of them in his current condition. Instead, he opted to simply glare at the newcomers intensely, which earned him a condescending smile from Talia, and a rude gesture from Damian.

Batman tapped a few buttons on one of his many gadgets, which caused the blaring alarms and the flowing water to suddenly stop. The room almost seemed too quiet once they were off. Clark rushed forward to Lara, beaming with pride as the others approached the restrained criminal. 

“You did amazing, honey!” said Clark, as he hugged his daughter tight. “I’m so proud of you! Are you okay?” 

Lara beamed up at her father, and nodded. After a quick debriefing with Batman and Robin, Supergirl took her father’s hand, and gently flew out of the window, floating down to the street like Kathy, Maya and Victoria had done not long before.

Dr. October waved to the Kryptonians from a medic station set up across the street from the lab. The Flash had just brought out the last civilian moments before and the police had gotten word they could move in and collect the defeated culprit. 

“How are you feeling, Doc?” Superman asked as he landed alongside his daughter.

“Oh don’t worry about me, Superman,” Victoria said, waving off his concern. “Not so much as a bruise on me. What about Supergirl? You don’t look so good.” 

“You should see the other guy.” Lara said, laughing a bit at her own use of the cliche. “It was great, Doc! I got to use ice breath!” Her excitement and delight were restoring her energy, or maybe that was from being out in the sun and open air. 

“That’s wonderful!” Victoria beamed with genuine pride. “Your powers are developing remarkably well!” 

At that moment, the doctor was interrupted by two young voices simultaneously calling out to Supergirl.  Lara turned just in time for Kathy and Maya to come rushing up to hug their friend.

“Oh mon dieu, Lara! Are you okay?!” Maya gasped. “I was watching you through my thermal goggles on the way down, but there must’ve been some interference… I lost track of you, right after I saw you get grabbed! I…”

“Calm down, sweetie! Give her space!” Kathy said, gently moving her girlfriend back from Lara. “She’s obviously fine now that Superman’s here.”

Lara, who had been caught off guard by the sudden hug attack, smiled gratefully at Kathy. “Yeah, don’t worry girls!” She grinned. “You really thought that I couldn’t handle that situation?”

Beacon and Nobody each raised an eyebrow, as they both gave Lara a “No-seriously-what-really-happened” look.

Lara sighed and began to fill her friends in on what had happened between her and Bane. She explained how the interference that Maya had noticed was likely caused by her freeze breath, which earned Lara another congratulatory smile from her dad, who was currently talking to the cops and Dr. October. The girls both seemed especially concerned when Lara mentioned getting punched in the chest by Bane, but Lara assured them that she felt fine.

As Supergirl was finishing her story, Kathy and Maya both turned to see a crowd of reporters and onlookers gathering down the street, beyond the police barriers. Nobody and Beacon weren’t as well-known to the general public as some other heroes, and they preferred to keep things that way.

“Looks like it might be time for us to make a move, hun…” Kathy said, eying the crowd with an apprehensive expression. She turned to Lara. “‘That okay with you, Supergirl?”

Lara nodded, before she realised what Beacon was implying. “Oh, aren’t you two coming back to the party?” She tried not to sound too disappointed, as she knew that her friends must have had a good reason for leaving the party.

Kathy gave a small shrug, “We might have the time to stop back in before the night is over. But…”

Maya stepped forward, “We had been looking forward to a night out together while we were in Gotham.”

Lara smiled at her friends, sad that they had to go, but understanding. She knew that it was hard finding time for a normal life as superheroes and how sometimes you needed to cherish those rare moments. “No problem girls. I get it. Just text or call before you leave the country again, ok?” She pulled them both into a tight hug, careful to only use a little of her strength. “You two sneak off to the teleporters now and we will distract the press. See you soon! Girl squad!”

“Thanks SG.” Kathy gave Lara a quick sisterly kiss on the cheek as they parted. “We’ll probably be staying in my place outside Metropolis if you need us! Talk to you later… and happy birthday!” She waved goodbye as Maya took her hand and the pair disappeared from sight.

Supergirl floated back over to where her dad was talking to Dr October. “Hey dad, Doc. Beacon and Nobody had to make a move. Is everything good over here?” 

Victoria looked like she had something to say, but stopped when she noticed a large group of armed police officers, who were wheeling a steel stretcher out of the building. On top of the stretcher, in restraints that even Lara would have struggled to break, lay Bane, who looked equal-parts tired and furious.

The doctor smiled a little mischievously, held up a finger to the heroes, and ran to the man who had almost held her hostage. “It was great to see you again, Mister Bane!” said Victoria, in a mockingly cheerful tone. “Sorry we didn’t get a chance to talk more. But be sure to say hi to Amanda for me the next time you see her.”  She gave a little wave and returned to the father and daughter.

“Sorry about that,” The doctor’s smile only grew wider as she heard Bane loudly swearing at her in Spanish from the prison transport, “Felt like he deserved it. But Supergirl, I want the chance to thank you properly for helping me out of that mess. I know your birthday is tomorrow, could we speak in private about something?” 

Father and daughter exchanged a look, both curious as to what it could be. “Of course Doc.” Lara said. An idea came to her of the perfect spot. “Do you want some cake?”